And Our Action Figures Don't Articulate
by PunkPinkPower
Summary: Lauren's quest to find herself finds her in the company of some interesting and powerful women by the time she ends up in Angel Grove.


Notes: Written in response to a prompt by TheSecondBatgirl in the Atoku_prompts challenge. The prompt was: An all female team of sentai/Rangers (feel free to mix and match sentai and PR) team up to fight evil. And somehow it ended up being all about Lauren's journey to find herself and the awesome ladies of PR helping her. Hope you like it love! And yes, the title is a political meta statement. You're welcome.

She isn't sure what's she's looking for. She only knows that she won't find it in Panorama City. She won't find it anywhere Jayden is, anywhere Ji is, anywhere the rest of her memories are.

She just knows she's looking for something, and she isn't sure what it is or where she'll find it. She's not even sure if she'll find it.

But she has to look.

* * *

She finds Taylor first.

She's in an a small grocery store just outside of Turtle Cove when a young woman comes up next to her. Her small shopping basket is filled with sunflower seeds, a pair of sunglasses, mini donuts, and some small bottles of liquor.

"You looking for something specific?" She says, not even looking at Lauren, but instead at the display of fresh fruit in front them.

Lauren hesitates. It's obvious she doesn't work here, not in the camo-pants and "Kiss my Laurels" tank top, so, a local? Or is there something more? "Everyone's looking for something," Lauren answers at last, and she reaches out and pulls a shiny red apple from the display.

The older girl huffs, tosses her long blonde hair over her shoulder and says, "Isn't that the truth." Then she turns towards Lauren, takes the apple out of her hand and places it in her own shopping basket. "Come on, Red," the girl says, and Lauren's eyes snap up to meet hers, "I'll buy you a drink."

* * *

Taylor is, generally, a good influence.

Lauren stays with her in Turtle Cove, in Taylor's small but comfortable apartment, and Taylor treats her like a Red Ranger, always making snappy comments about things Lauren says sounding particularly 'Red'.

She likes to practice shooting her guns once or twice a week, so they go to the range and Lauren learns, for the first time, how to properly hold and fire a handgun _and_ a rifle.

She has a lot of stories about being a ranger and how to deal with not being a ranger anymore, and she listens every time Lauren feels insecure about her place on her team and about finding a purpose beyond ranger hood.

She drinks just a touch more than Lauren would like, but it mostly just improves her snarky attitude and never seems to impair her judgment.

She also keeps a police scanner in her apartment living room, and when it's late and Lauren can't sleep, she turns it up and listens to the problems of Turtle Cove and the surrounding precincts, trying to see if there's something out there in the world for her left to do.

And then one night she hears about a unknown disturbance in the warehouse district, and, once Lauren prods her awake, Taylor hardly takes any convincing.

* * *

"Look, all I'm saying is, ex-Rangers need some kind of signal," the girl with the wavy hair is saying as Taylor reloads her gun. "So they don't accidentally kill each other when they're out being midnight do-gooders."

Taylor cocks and un-cocks her handgun. "You didn't get shot, I don't see what you're so upset about," she hums amusedly, and the other former yellow ranger rolls her eyes.

"We should introduce ourselves," the other girl in the leather outfit says, stepping forward and holding her hand out to Lauren. "I'm Tori Hansen, former Blue Wind Ranger. My surly friend here is Kira Ford, former Yellow Dino ranger."

"Lauren Shiba, former Red Samurai Ranger" Lauren shakes Tori's hand, and she grins a little at Taylor, sitting on one of the wooden crates, polishing her gun menacingly at Kira. "And my surly friend is Taylor Earheart, former Yellow Wild Force Ranger."

"Hey," Taylor objects, but she grins fondly, as though Lauren's snark is a skill she's taking personal pride in developing.

"So," Kira says, and she comes over, bumps Tori's hip with her own, holds up a walkie-talkie, gives their two new acquaintances conspiratorial looks, "Any other do-gooding we want to get up to tonight?"

* * *

"Rangers protect their cities," Taylor informs them at dinner later that week, and she cracks her shellfish open with her hands. "That doesn't stop when we stop being rangers. Don't get me wrong, not all of us go into midnight vigilante-ism," she jokes, and Lauren grins. "Some of us become doctors, paramedics, air force fighter pilots, firefighters-"

"Ninja's, pop singing sensations, environmental activists," Tori chimes in, gives Lauren a wink.

Taylor nods. "The point is, being rangers isn't what made us want to save the world. We already wanted to save the world, and that's why the power chose us."

"But it didn't choose me," Lauren argues, and she feels only a little self-conscious admitting it in from of Tori and Kira. "I was born into a family of rangers. I never had a choice. I spent my whole life training to be the Red Ranger, and then I screwed it up. I couldn't do the one thing I was supposed to do. What if that was the powers way of trying to tell me something?"

It's silent at the table for a minute, and then Kira reaches over and wraps her arm around Lauren's shoulders. "You want to talk about atoning for mistakes you think you've made," she says, and hands Lauren one of the flowers from the vase in the middle of the table, "I know who we should call."

* * *

Karone meets them at the beach in Reef Side, appearing out of thin air in a shimmer of pink sparkles.

Lauren actually gasps at the sight of real teleportation, a skill she has only heard about and never seen used. Tori applauds with a look that clearly says she's impressed.

Kira jogs forward, hugs Karone tightly and they sway back and forth for a minute. Karone let's her go, brings both hands up to Kira's face and says, "You get more beautiful every time I see you, little sister."

Kira grins, turns back to her waiting friends to introduce the former Pink Galaxy Ranger Karone.

"Offworlders," Lauren muses, shaking Karone's hand, "I've heard stories but I never imagined I'd meet one."

"How'd you meet her, Kira?" Tori wonders, crossing her arms suspiciously, as though she thinks Kira might be off teaming up with other former rangers behind her back.

"One of her teammates produced my first album," Kira says, giving Karone a squeeze and tilting their heads together.

* * *

Karone cooks them a Kerovian dinner in Kira's huge three bedroom house, tells them stories of Miranoi and space travel and growing up evil. She patiently recounts the details of her kidnapping and reunion with her brother, explains to them why Kerovian ale is bright blue in color, and talks about the homes she's built for herself on three different worlds.

"Oh, but the worst part," she says, laughing, "Hands down, was the full leather body suit. I mean, head to toe, thick leather and metal armor. When I defected, I was paler than an albino fish!"

Tori laughs, toasts Karone's glass. "I finally got Cam to agree to give our training uniforms some breathing fabrics," she stands, lifts her arms and skirt to show them, "So that parts of the arms and legs and side are not completely covered. There were times I thought I'd die in this suit," she laughs, and Karone nods.

"The Samurai training outfits were completely cotton," Lauren adds with a shrug, "Not very practical in terms of keeping us safe, but comfortable, certainly."

Karone fixes her gaze on Lauren, swirls her blue drink around in her tall wine glass. "Kira tells me your team just finished, not too long ago."

"They weren't my team," Lauren corrects, somewhat sadly. "And they did. They saved the world."

"We," Taylor corrects, on her third glass of blue liquor. "The correct phrase is 'We saved the world'."

Lauren shakes her head, determinedly. "I didn't do anything. In the end, my sealing symbol didn't work and I… I failed. It was Jayden, my brother who led the team to victory. I just… I wasn't good enough."

"I don't believe that," Karone says immediately, and she gives Lauren a long, piercing look. "You held the power. You made a difference. Who knows, it might have been microscopic or it might have been huge. But the power doesn't just come to people who don't deserve it."

Lauren shakes her head again, feeling remorseful and bitter that she'll have to say it again, confirm it in her own head again. "The power didn't choose me," Lauren says, and she feels Kira roll her eyes to her side. "It didn't! It was just, thrust upon me like I was supposed to be good enough and I wasn't!"

Karone leans forward, puts her glass down on the small table. "You're not listening. I didn't say it chose you. I said it came to you. Hell, I only got my hands on the power by sticking my nose where it didn't belong and getting in the way of the power and someone else," Karone says, and she stands, walks over to Lauren and hands her the locket she'd been showing them during her stories earlier, the picture of the little girl Karone had once been warn and faded.

Karone wraps her hands around Lauren's wrists, kneels down to look her in the eye as fiercely as Lauren has ever seen anyone look. "But that doesn't mean I didn't deserve to have it."

* * *

They spend three days in Reef Side, but things are surprisingly calm there. Taylor and Lauren decide to head out and check on a string of burglaries taking place in San Angeles, and Kira warns them to be wary of temporal phenomena on their way out of Reef side.

Karone heads back to the beach to beam up to her ship, but not before presenting Lauren with an empty locket that is similar in style to her own. Inside is a note that reads 'To mend the space between you and your brother. May your hearts never be far apart.'

Lauren tucks the empty locket in tight against her chest.

As they're walking away from Kira's, Tori runs after them. She presses a piece of paper into Lauren's hand. "If you find yourselves in Ocean Bluff, you need to look up a friend of mine," she says warmly, and she grabs Lauren in a fierce hug. "And call us anytime you need us."

* * *

In San Angeles, the burglaries turn out to be a hoax for publicity, orchestrated by some master thief, but the trip is not altogether wasted as Lauren looks through the San An Times and finds a couple of interesting free classes being offered at the university.

Convincing Taylor to go is like pulling teeth.

Taylor grumbles the whole way there, insists she's going to be rude and why is Lauren taking her until the teacher for the class comes in and Taylor says, "Huh, she's one of us."

"What?" Lauren wonders, leaning over and whispering to Taylor as the girl introduces herself. "How can you tell?"

Taylor nods at the girl, and sure enough, there is a suspicious looking piece of mecha attached to the teacher's wrist.

* * *

Rose is a genius.

A literally, quantifiable genius, and Lauren can't help but marvel at her. Lauren is smart, but she'd spent her childhood focused on Samurai training, and all other educational opportunities had been brushed aside in favor of her one duty. Rose has had all the opportunities in the world, and Lauren is a little jealous.

Until Lauren tells her this, and then Rose offers to help Lauren get into college, if she wants, will be her personal advisor and help her with classes and scholarships.

Lauren stutters. "I, I don't even know what I'd do. There wasn't ever a 'rest of my life' to plan before. I have no idea what I'm good at."

Rose smiles, sips her coffee. "I'm sure you're good at lots of things. But we'll find something for you to major in, I'm not even worried about that. As for what to do with the rest of your life," Rose hem-haws, chuckles, "Don't feel bad. That's something everyone struggles with."

"It really is like this, isn't it?" Lauren wonders abruptly, looking between Taylor and Rose. "Everywhere you go, there's people who'll help you and things you can do to help them. That's it. That's the world."

Taylor and Rose laugh, but Lauren feels as though she's just made a break through.

* * *

Rose loads her up with brochures for colleges and information about scholarships and online courses and gives her all her information so Lauren can get in touch with her when she decides. And she writes, 'Everyone's good at something. In your case, I imagine you'll be good at so many things it'll be hard to choose. XOXO' on the bottom of one of the application forms.

* * *

At the bus station, Taylor sits down on a bench before Lauren can buy their tickets to Ocean Bluff.

"I think this is where you and I part ways, kid," Taylor tells her, and Lauren's face falls, but she nods.

"I understand," she says, but Taylor grins and reaches over and messes up Lauren's hair.

"Oh, god, don't do the kicked puppy," Taylor tells her, pulling her into a hug. "I don't often stray too far from Turtle Cove unless it's for a good cause, and trust me, Lauren, you were a good cause. And I felt like maybe you needed a little bit of protecting. But you're going to be fine, I know it, and I've got my own team back home that needs me. Hell, my Red has probably locked himself in with the monkeys by now," Taylor jokes, and Lauren nods.

Taylor gets up, buys her own bus ticket back to Turtle Cove and hands Lauren her hers.

"Look," Taylor says, and Lauren can tell she's struggling with whatever thing she's trying to say, which means it's probably a little mushy, "Whatever it is that you're looking for, just remember that it's you that has to find it. You're the only one that can. So have a little faith in yourself, yeah?"

Lauren nods, gives Taylor a firm handshake and a smile, and Taylor gets on her own bus.

It's not until later than she see's Taylor has scrawled something across the back of Lauren's ticket.

'Faith in yourself, and when you can't do that, faith in your friends.'

* * *

"Welcome to Jungle Karma Pizza, what can I do you for?" The waitress says quickly, expectantly, and Lauren puts the menu down.

"I'm actually looking for Lily?" She asks, and the girl shoots her a brilliant smile and sits down across from her in the booth.

"You found her," Lily says, offering a hand across the table. She shakes Lauren's hand, and then shouts over her shoulder, "RJ! I'M TAKING MY BREAK. And you are?"

Lauren glances quickly at the man making the Pizza's giving them a skeptical look, and then back at Lily. "My name's Lauren. Tori Hansen said I should look you up."

This makes Lily give her a once up and down, and she narrows her eyes. "Yellow?"

Lauren shakes her head, realizes she's still wearing some of the non-color coded clothes she'd picked up from Taylor. "Red. Sort of."

Lily makes an appraising sound, nods, and then takes off her cap and apron. "Come on," she says, standing and holding out her hand for Lauren, "Let's go do something life affirming. Unless you feel like eating pizza is going to solve all your problems."

"Won't you be missed?" Lauren wonders, looking around the pizza shop again.

Lily takes Lauren's hand, links their arms together as they walk out of the store. "Fran will cover me," she says brightly, "She's used to it."

* * *

Lily's idea of 'life affirming' activities includes getting snow cones, teaching Lauren how to skip stones on the water, seeing a psychic, and climbing a hundred year old tree.

Lauren beats Lily to the top, helps pull her up to sit on the branch. They're at least 20 feet up, but Lauren isn't afraid of falling.

"Thanks," Lily huffs as Lauren helps her up, "I guess I'm getting a little bit out of shape!"

They sit up in the tree, Lauren looking down occasionally at the people walking by below, Lily enjoying the cool afternoon air and catching her breathe.

"So, what did you think of what the psychic told you?" Lily asks, and Lauren laughs.

"When she realized I wasn't there for romantic advice, she seemed a little bit let down," Lauren says, and Lily wrinkles her nose appreciatively. "But I don't know, the thing about being careful of monster attacks seemed like good advice."

Lily laughs. "Yeah, I'm pretty sure psychics do really well in towns with active teams," Lily holds her hands up, closes her eyes and imitates the psychic, "Be careful, for tomorrow, the city shall be attacked!"

Lauren laughs, doesn't answer, and Lily kicks her feet.

"So Lauren," she says at last, "What's your story?"

Lauren shrugs. "I don't know," she says, feeling philosophical, "It's not finished yet."

* * *

She eats dinner with Lily's team in the pizza parlor, listens to their stories of spirit animals and ancient evil spirits and werewolves, listens to Fran tell her how important it is for her to get to Europe if she can, and RJ teaches her how to throw pizza dough.

"My team is absolutely essential to who I am," Lily tells her after dinner, when RJ and Theo are arguing about pizza toppings and Dom and Casey are throwing each other around the practice mats while Fran cheers them both. "After we finished, Theo and I tried to go back to the academy to teach, but we couldn't stand not being around them. Fran and Dom had a six month tour of Europe planned," Lily confides quietly, nodding at them, "They were back in four."

Lauren marvels at their closeness. "I don't know what that's like," she admits carefully. "The team I was supposed to lead… when they formed I wasn't ready, so my brother took my place. And they became his team. Even when I showed up, they were still his team. They weren't mean to me, and they tried really, really hard to accept me and make me feel welcome. But it wasn't the same. I felt like I… didn't deserve them, or their loyalty."

Lily listens, nods, pauses. Finally she says, "Sometimes it's about the teams you choose, too. Just because you held power with one group of people for a while doesn't mean you can't form other teams, other families. But it also doesn't mean that they aren't your team," Lily says, placing a hand on Lauren's back, "Just because it didn't happen _while_ you had the power. They can still be your family. Sometimes you just have to work at it."

Lauren is about to respond when Theo comes over and demands they dip a piece of teriyaki flavored pineapple in ranch dressing, and somehow it ends up smashed in RJ's face.

"The important thing to remember," Lily tells her through a yawn that night, when everyone is sprawled out in the living room in a pile, "Is that the Power connects us all. We're all one big, giant family, and we always will be."

* * *

When Lauren is sick of pizza, she heads out again, this time uncertain where she's going. She doesn't mind the uncertainty, she finds.

She thinks she's starting to understand that it's not the destination that matters.

She sends a postcard to Taylor from Briarwood. When she's filling it out, she wonders if she shouldn't send one to Jayden and Ji, too.

But she can't quite figure out what to say once she has the address filled out. She sits in the corner shop, holding the pen in her hand, staring at the forest landscape on the postcard, at a loss.

"Try starting with, 'Dear Blank'," a voice says, and Lauren looks up, startled.

The girl with the pink streak in her hair that she purchased the postcards from is standing there, smirking at her. "Sorry?" Lauren says.

"You've been staring at the postcard for twenty minutes," the girl laughs, and she pulls up a chair and sits down backwards in it. "Postcards are supposed to be short; you've only got enough room for two or three sentences. What's so important you can't condense down?"

Lauren shakes her head, looks back at the postcard. "I don't know what to say," she admits to the older girl, "I'm not writing to someone I know very well."

The girl nods at the postcard. "Want me to give it a go?"

Lauren hesitates, and then shrugs. It can't hurt. She hands the girl the postcard.

"Alright," the girl says, and she pops her gum once before taking the pen in hand, "Dear," she prompts.

"Jayden and Ji," Lauren answers, and she writes it in.

"Where are you headed?" The girl asks, and Lauren shrugs.

"I don't know," she admits, feeling a little silly, "No where particular. Just traveling."

"Okay," she nods, and then takes the pen down again, "Dear Jayden and Ji, Enjoying my trip, making friends and having adventures. Miss you, will be in touch again soon. The weather is here, wish you were beautiful, Vida," she scribbles, and then she says quickly, "Awe, shit, that's my name, sorry, I'll get you another," and she springs out of her seat to retrieve another postcard while Lauren laughs.

Vida fills out the second postcard the same way, but this time she's asks Lauren's name before she signs it.

"Lauren," she says, and Vida scribbles it out.

"There you go, Lauren," Vida says, handing it back to her with a flourish, "One generic friendly postcard, courtesy of Moi!"

"Thanks," Lauren says, "It's perfect."

Vida smiles at her. "So how long are you in Briarwood, Lauren?"

Lauren shrugs. "I guess until I feel like going somewhere else."

"Good answer," Vida says, and she pulls a flyer off the counter, "You like music?"

* * *

Vida's DJ name is "The Super Fly Butterfly", and it's obvious the crowd at the show is there for her, as half of them file out after Vida finishes her set.

It's also obvious to Lauren that Vida has pulled her butterfly emblem off Briarwoods former Pink Mystic Ranger, and she wonders about that.

Vida's friends are delightfully color coded, and her green ranger compliments Lauren's eyes before Vida smacks him over the back of the head and tells him to lay off to smarm.

"So you're just traveling to travel?" Madison asks her, and Lauren nods.

"A friend of mine says I'm looking for something," Lauren says, sipping her drink and talking over the music, "But I'm not sure what."

"That sounds awesome," Madison tells her, and Vida nods.

"I wish I could travel just to travel," Vida tells her, but then she rubs her thumb and index finger together, "But you gotta have the mullah!"

Lauren laughs. "Actually, you'd be amazing how many other Power Rangers out there are willing to put you up when you're in their city."

Vida does a double take, looks Lauren up and down once, and raises her eyebrow.

"Red," Lauren tells her, and Vida whoops.

"Oh, man, I can't wait to get me a girl Red Ranger action figure!" Vida tells her, and she swings an arm around Lauren's shoulder appreciatively. "I should have been Red," she tells her seriously, "But our Red turned out to be the missing son of our mentor, so I got screwed out of that on the whole destiny principle."

* * *

"You have to go to this," Vida says, and she slams the paper down on the counter, making Lauren look up.

"Angel Grove Plans Celebrations for 20th Annual Power Ranger Appreciation Day," Lauren reads off the headline, and she looks at the picture of a giant power ranger float with dancing fodder monsters on it.

"It's perfect!" Vida says, and she picks the paper back up and waves it around. "It's the culmination to your trip that you're looking for! Angel Grove is where it all started, it's the stuff of legends and I hear they have a team that's active again there! You have to go, Lauren!"

"It's in three days, and Angel Grove is half the state away," Lauren says, the idea seeming a little daunting.

"Lauren," Vida says in her no-nonsense tone, "You're the Red Freakin' Ranger. Find a way, girl!"

Lauren laughs at Vida's enthusiasm, because Vida keeps emphasizing Lauren's color. She's shown Lauren her and Chip's whole collection of Power Ranger action figures, and Lauren had never realized before that she had been the first female Red Ranger. It's important to Vida, in a way Lauren doesn't fully understand, but it does lift her up to hear the reverence in Vida's voice, sometimes. "I guess I could try," Lauren agrees, and Vida gives her a brilliant smile.

"And you send me a postcard," Vida says with a wink.

* * *

Lauren makes it in time for Power Ranger Appreciation Day.

There are floats and balloons shaped like Power Rangers, little boys and girls dressed up in cheap Power Ranger costumes running around, and every possible food item is shaped into various incarnations of Power Rangers.

She can't quite bring herself to eat a piece of cake shaped like her, so she gets some of Mike's instead.

Mostly she sits and watches. There are speeches from political figures thanking Rangers through the years, and speeches from people who have known the Rangers or who have been personally saved by them. Bands perform songs written about the Power Rangers, and she laughs at some of the ridiculous lyrics. The current team of Power Rangers even makes a short appearance in the main stage, and Lauren wonders about them and their lives.

And then she sees a little girl playing with her friends, and her breathe catches. Her blonde hair is pulled into two tight pigtails, and she's wearing the Red Samurai Ranger suit.

With a skirt.

The little boy she's playing with seems to be telling her that she should be the Pink Ranger, but the little girl stands defiant.

"I'm the Red Ranger!" She shouts at the little boy, "I can be a Red Ranger if I want to be, and no one can tell me any different! See!" And she points at a poster of Lauren, in her suit, the first female Red Ranger to be known to the world. "If she can do it, so can I!"

And the girl raises her plastic sword, and calls the boys the action to defeat the Nighlocks, and they rush off into the crowd.

And if Lauren's eyes tear up, well. It's windy out today.

* * *

The park on any day that isn't Power Ranger appreciation day is fairly unremarkable. It's a nice park, to be sure, but it's mostly empty, save for a few teenagers playing basketball and a couple of older women feeding birds on a nearby bench.

Lauren makes herself at home by the fountain, writes in her notebook about the last few days, and eventually lies out in the sun, relaxing and feeling somewhat peaceful.

Until there is a loud crash and an evil cackle, and the hairs on the back of Lauren's neck stand up. She jumps up to see a monster attacking, and she immediately reaches for her morpher.

Only then the Pink and Yellow Rangers show up, and Lauren remember that this is not her fight. She watches them for a minute, and eventually realizes that everyone else has fled the park… save for the two older women on the bench across the way.

The least Lauren can do to help the rangers here is clear the park.

She runs over to the women. "There's a monster attack going on!" She tells them.

The two women look up at her. One is smiling and still sipping her smoothie, and the other raises a sassy eyebrow at her. "You don't say?"

Lauren looks between them. "What are you doing?"

The one in yellow smiles. "Bird watching," she says with a big grin, and the other woman doubles over with laughter as though this is some kind of inside joke.

"You need to get to safety," Lauren tells them, though she's starting to suspect they don't much care about safety.

"You hear that, Kat?" She asks her friend, nudging her arm, "We need to get to safety."

"Oh Tanya," Kat scolds, swatting at Tanya's knee, "You're terrible."

"Yeah, don't you worry about us sweet pea," Tanya tells Lauren, "We'll be just fine, but you go ahead and run along home. Or did you want us to look away while you morph to go help your friends?"

Lauren tilts her head at that. "You're Rangers."

Kat and Tanya exchange glances. "A long, long time ago, I'm afraid," Kat answers kindly, but Tanya is fishing something out of her pocket.

"Oh, come on Kat," she says, holding up a small metal bracelet that makes Kat gasp, "How 'bout we fire off a few blaster rounds, just for old time's sake?"

"Tanya," Kat says, flabbergasted, and then she smiles and repeats, "You're terrible!"

* * *

Tanya, Kat, and Lauren demorph after the monster retreats, and Tanya is laughing so hard it borders on maniacal.

"Oh lord, did you see that?" Tanya wants to know, imitating her moves. "I still got it, Lord, I still got it!"

"Uh," the current Yellow Ranger says as she demorphs in front of them, and she looks truly puzzled. "Hi?"

Lauren looks at the two girls, just a little younger than her, both looking confused and exhausted. "Sorry," Lauren says, and she gives Tanya a wary glance, "We didn't mean to intrude; we just thought we could help."

The Pink Ranger raises her hands and shakes her head, "No, we're glad for the help! We could really use it right now."

"Why?" Kat wonders, crossing her arms, "What's going on?"

Emma and Gia, as they introduce themselves, tell them about their latest monster problem, and how their big bad's have just switched out and the new one is twice as evil as the last, and how he's managed to catcher their four male teammates with a love spell ("Even the robot?" Tanya wonders, and Gia throws up her arms in agreement and says "I know, right?"), and how now he's sending down monster after monster all over the city and they can't keep up.

"Well," Kat says, thinking, "We could call in some reinforcements, but so many of our friends are off world or far away, it might be a while before they can be of any use."

"But we're more than willing to help," Tanya throws in, happily showing off her old morpher. "I mean, we ain't got that much juice, but once a ranger, always a ranger."

"We can use all the help we can get," Emma says, nodding, "Thank you."

"Actually," Lauren adds, and they all look at her, "I think I know some people who could help."

* * *

The speed in which her friends get there is amazing.

Taylor rides in on her Hawk Zord, yelling "Yippie Kay Yay" and taking care of the monster that's just grown in size. Tori and Kira work together like a flawless team, tossing each other and using their powers to take care of the Luggies. Rose, Vida, Madison and Lily take out several monsters at once, Kat and Tanya help Gia and Emma rescue the rest of their team from the love spell monster, and Lauren and Karone keep the big bad distracted until his plans can be thwarted.

It's a pretty eventful day.

Lauren is the only Red Ranger there until they rescue Troy, and then he offers the final blow of the Love spell monster to her.

They share it, and take the monster down as a team.

* * *

"That's my girl," Taylor tells Lauren, giving her a bone crushing hug.

"This is amazing!" Gia says, and she hugs Taylor too, once Taylor let's Lauren go. "Aunt Taylor, I can't believe it!"

"It's a small world," Taylor says, and she gives Lauren a wink.

"This calls for a celebration," Vida says happily as everyone cheers, "And I know just the DJ to play us out."

Tanya hoots and laughs, "Girl, I hope you mean me!"

* * *

Tanya and Vida end up DJing the party together.

Noah and Rose somehow end up in a corner discussing quantum mechanics, despite how many times Madison tries to get them to come dance.

Somehow there's cake, and lots of toasting courtesy of Taylor, and Lauren ends up just sitting on the sidelines, reveling in the happiness of the room.

Karone finds her. "So, have you found it?"

Lauren looks over at her. "Found what?"

"Whatever it was you were looking for," Karone shrugs with a grin.

Lauren considers. She still has the locket Karone had given her in her pocket, but it's still empty, and she touches it as she considers. "I think I've realized that we're more than what we do as Rangers, if that's what you mean," she says at last, and Karone smiles at her, "And I think I can go home, and try to connect with my own team now, too."

"Hey," Lily says, overhearing from a few feet away. Her exclamation draws several people's attention. "This is your team, too, Lauren. All of us, we're one great big team. That's part of being a Ranger, too."

"She's right," Kat says, and then she addresses the newest team of Rangers, "You don't realize it now, but being a Ranger is more than a pretty suit or a few months of beautifully sculpted abs. You've become part of a very long and quite amazing history."

"We save the world," Lauren says, holding up her glass like a toast, "And we get to save each other, too."

* * *

When Lauren goes home, she hugs Jayden and tells him she loves him, thanks Ji for his faith in her, throws a party with Power Ranger shaped food for everyone, and decorates her room with souvenirs from her soul searching journey.

She puts a picture of her and Jayden in the locket Karone gave her, wears it around her neck. She stacks the college brochures next to her laptop computer, along with Rose's note, which is on top. She puts Taylor's scrawled 'Faith in yourself, and when you can't do that, faith in your friends' on the back of her bus ticket on the wall, next to her own pair of camo-pants and her score card for her best shooting lesson.

She has a napkin from Jungle Karma Pizza that goes on the wall, above her bed, and the postcard that Vida signed her own name to on accident. She put Kira's signed CD on her dresser, right next to Tanya's mix of "Songs to Keep You Fighting" that she'd handed her before she left Angel Grove.

And on the night stand, right next to the picture of her team of Rangers from the party after they'd defeated Xandred, and the picture of her parents and herself and Jayden, is a picture of her adoptive team with the Megaforce Rangers, all of them clinging together with smiles on their faces.

_Sometimes it's about the teams you choose,_ Lauren thinks to herself fondly.

* * *

She takes Mia and Emily out for snow cones, teaches them how to shoot guns at the range, and they climb a hundred year old tree and talk about the future.


End file.
